Danville Defense Shuts Down Milton in 24-0 Victory

MILTON – In a tight defensive struggle, it often takes only a big play or two to swing the momentum and ultimately the result of the contest.

With its starting quarterback out due to injury and its offense struggling, Danville turned to its defense to carry it on Friday at Milton, and relied on just a couple of big offensive plays to account for most of its points on the scoreboard.

Danville’s defense held Milton to just 84 yards of offense, and Danville’s offense produced three long scoring plays that combined accounted for over half of the team’s total offense on the evening, as Danville battled its way through a tough game to blank the Black Panthers, 24-0, and improve to 3-1 on the season.

“Our defense had to carry us tonight and they got the job done. Offensively, we weren’t super clean, but give credit to Milton – they played well and had a good game plan and were physical,” said Danville coach Shawn Sheptock. “I feel that if we play physical on defense and do what we’re supposed to be able to do, we can pretty much play with anybody.

“We knew they would try to run the ball. Some teams have had success doing that against us, so we worked on that throughout the week.”

The Ironmen defense frustrated the Black Panthers with a steady diet of blitzes and by repeatedly loading the box. In doing so, they limited Milton to under two yards per play. Danville recorded five sacks and six additional plays that went for negative yardage. The Ironmen also forced three Milton turnovers, including two on sacks of Black Panther quarterback Kamryn Wilson, although Danville only managed three points off of those turnovers.

Those three points came late in the first quarter on Liam Tomko’s 31-yard field goal after Danville had sacked Wilson and recovered his fumble at the Black Panther 13-yard line.

“We just couldn’t move the ball offensively and that was very troubling to us since we were able to move the ball a little bit against Mount Carmel last week and we felt they were a powerhouse and we would be able to move the ball better tonight,” said Milton coach Matthew Wilson. “We’re young in the skill positions but on the line, we returned a few starters from last year, so that’s very frustrating that we can’t even get to the second level to block the linebackers that were blitzing almost every play. When that happens, our quarterback is just a sophomore, so he may get a little antsy because of all the pressure he’s getting.

We know teams are going to blitz and bring pressure, the film is out there. We practice for it, but we just have to be ready. A lot of it is just mental mistakes and lapses. But, if we can’t get to the second level, our guys aren’t going to break runs, we’re not going to be able to pass the ball. We have to notice the blitz and step to it. We go over this all week in practice and sometimes it just doesn’t come to fruition on Friday and that’s what’s frustrating. It just comes down to execution and effort.”

The Ironmen’s other three touchdowns came on long scoring plays of 28, 42 and 29 yards, respectively. Those three plays accounted for over half of Danville’s total offense on the night – 99 of 181.

After the Ironmen stopped Milton on downs with 2:26 to go in the first half, Jagger Simpson – starting under center in place of the injured Macon Patrick – found Braxtyn Girardi in the end zone, who out jumped the Milton defender one-on-one to haul in the 28-yard touchdown pass.

Danville received the second half kickoff, and on a third-and-17 play from the Milton 42, Simpson kept the ball and found a plethora of open space to turn the play into a 42-yard touchdown run to make it 17-0. The Ironmen then capped the scoring later in the third quarter when Girardi took the handoff on a receiver end around and went 29 yards around the left side at the 2:00 mark of the third quarter. Girardi touched the ball five times on the night and scored twice.

“It seemed like Milton was really strong taking away our inside runs, so we talked a little bit at halftime about trying to get the ball outside. We have some athletes and some speed, so that was one of the adjustments we tried to make,” said Sheptock.

The Ironmen threw just three passes on the night. Simpson finished with 39 rushing yards and 28 passing yards, while Ben Nye led Danville on the ground with 66 yards on 15 carries. Girardi had 81 all-purpose yards to go with his two touchdowns.

Danville 24, Milton 0
Danville (3-1) 3 7 14 0 – 24
Milton (1-3) 0 0 0 0 – 0

First quarter
3:48 – (D) Liam Tomko 31-yard field goal, 5-(-1), 1:47

Second quarter
2:17 – (D) Braxtyn Girardi 28-yard pass from Jagger Simpson (Tomko kick), 1-28, :09

Third quarter
10:09 – (D) Jagger Simpson 42-yard run (Tomko kick), 4-63, 1:51
2:00 – (D) Braxtyn Girardi 29-yard run (Tomko kick), 2-25, 1:00

Statistics
D M
First downs 8 6
Rushes-net yards 41-136 37-57
Passing yardage 45 27
Passing 2-3-1-0 5-11-0-1
Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-2
Penalties-yards 15-135 8-70

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Danville: Ben Nye (15-66), Jagger Simpson (13-39-1), Jack Rarig (5-8), Braxtyn Girardi (4-28-1), Kayvion Seabrook (3-(-3)), Myles Koser (1-(-2)); Milton: Luis Santos (13-44), Brody Locke (13-26), Kamryn Wilson (8-(-18)), Jacori Brown (2-4), Brady O’Rourke (1-1)

PASSING: Danville: Jagger Simpson (1-2-28-1-0), Myles Koser (1-1-17-0-0); Milton: Kamryn Wilson (5-11-27-0-1)

RECEIVING: Danville: Braxtyn Girardi (1-28-1), Kayvion Seabrook (1-17); Milton: Brady O’Rourke (2-21), Jhemzuel Feliciano (2-(-1)), Jacori Brown (1-7)